RV Rachel Carson is a research vessel owned and operated by the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, named in honor of the marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson.

The 81-foot aluminum-hulled vessel is an extended and modified Challenger class fast research vessel, designed by marine architect Roger Long.

[2] It is equipped with twin 1,200 horsepower diesel engines and water jet drives which give a maximum speed of 24 knots.

[3] The ship was built by Hike Metal Products of Wheatley, Ontario,[3] at a cost of $4.6 million, and christened by Katie O'Malley on November 16, 2008, at Annapolis.

[4] The Rachel Carson has operated in Chesapeake Bay since early 2009, teaching estuarine sampling techniques, carrying out water quality surveys, plankton collection, box coring operations, and deploying instrument packages.